I am a self-proclaimed planner.

I love Google Maps, whiteboards, color coding, notepads, and schedules. I excel at logistics, time management, and strategic planning. I am notorious for checking out the parking situation at a place prior to arrival—granted, I live in Los Angeles, a city even more notorious for its lack of parking.

I understand what I am about to say next sounds like the opposite of a girl who has spent the better part of five months researching, reading travel guides, and creating a blog partially dedicated to the trip, but the truth is, I am not intensely planning my month in Barcelona.

And, yes, that is really hard for me!

My natural instinct is to take my curated list of restaurants, museums, experiences, and day trips and map it all out.

Typically, I would select the places I want to visit during week one, choose exactly which days to take each day trip and which trains to ride, and book dinner reservations and outings in advance.

But behaving in my usual manner would defeat the purpose of this trip. It would leave me overly scheduled and tied to plans finalized before actually setting foot in the city.

I am not completely rejecting the concept of planning. Instead, I am making a conscious decision to plan only the parts that are logistically necessary rather than meticulously controlling every day.

That being said, I committed to a side trip to Mallorca for a four-day, three-night stay in Port de Sóller. I purchased a round-trip flight to Palma de Mallorca and made a hotel reservation because I specifically wanted a sea-view room with a balcony at a hotel with direct beach access.

Booking ahead of time was a practical choice. Port de Sóller is a small, niche area with a limited number of hotels that often sell out in September. Funny enough, I was pleasantly surprised—and a little shocked—when I got the last available sea-view room with a balcony despite booking almost four months in advance.

I also wanted a flight that would get me to Mallorca around 1:00 p.m. and depart in the late afternoon, so I booked early to ensure I had options that fit my preferred schedule.

To date, aside from that overnight trip, I do not have anything else officially planned.

There are several attractions and experiences I feel pretty committed to and could purchase tickets for in advance, including Museu Picasso, a vermouth-tasting class, Montjuïc Castle, Park Güell, and Casa Vicens.

But I haven’t.

I am also toying with an overnight in Valencia and possibly taking day trips to Girona, Sitges, and Tarragona, but nothing is concrete.

An entire month in Barcelona gives me the luxury of not having to book everything prior to arrival. If I can’t get tickets on a certain day, it’s no big deal because I have plenty of other days to go.

It also gives me another luxury: the ability to leave days unplanned.

While I don’t think planning out my days would completely negate spontaneity, I worry that rushing from reservation to reservation would turn this trip into a checklist rather than a partial experience of living in Barcelona.

I want this trip to feel like a mix of vacation days spent sightseeing at famous landmarks and days left empty to let the city surprise me.

There is something almost exciting about waking up on an ordinary Tuesday in Barcelona.

To me, an ordinary day means doing laundry, grocery shopping at the market, spending the day reading or writing, returning to a neighborhood whose atmosphere I loved, or relaxing on the balcony at my Airbnb without feeling like I wasted valuable travel time.

I see a good portion of my days beginning with grabbing an iced-tea-adjacent beverage and simply letting the day dictate the way.

What will I discover when I have no intentional direction and nowhere specific to be?

Hopefully, this is when I will dine at a restaurant I never saw on a travel list and love it, wander into a boutique and purchase another capsule wardrobe piece, or learn about a part of Barcelona’s history I knew nothing about.

A person who lives somewhere has their spots, so I am not approaching my time in Barcelona as a one-and-done itinerary.

I look forward to the luxury of returning to a place I loved, enjoying those unexpectedly perfect croquettes once more, having another chat with the cute bartender, and people-watching again in what has become my favorite park.

To give my trip a little structure, I’ve replaced my typical itinerary with what I am referring to as “My Hit List.” This is my running list of museums, restaurants, experiences, parks, cultural sites, stores, and markets that I am interested in checking out while I am in Barcelona.

Some are must-sees, like the La Pedrera night experience and the Sagrada Família. For these types of places, I will book one or two days in advance, depending on the experience.

I also plan to set a maximum of two planned activities per day so I can enjoy each experience leisurely and leave room for the rest of the day to unfold naturally.

Day trips will be mood-dependent and decided on a couple of days beforehand, whereas an overnight trip will be booked a few days in advance. Because it would only be a brief stay, I am less concerned about finding the perfect accommodations and may even be able to take advantage of a last-minute rate.

I may sound like I have it all figured out, but I am actually working through my own discomfort with leaving the trip so widely open.

As I mentioned earlier, this really isn’t how I do things.

In general, I am a very productive person and joke that I get more done by 9:00 a.m. than most people do all day.

An empty calendar or an unticked to-do list makes me feel like a failure.

Since conceptualizing this trip, I’ve been resisting the Jenna who wants to maximize my time and see it all. That Jenna wants to create a dedicated calendar with activities and destinations assigned to each day and devise the perfect plan for moving from place to place.

She’s determined, tactical, and a little scary.

But luckily, I’ve kept her at bay.

I think a lot of us experience a similar feeling while planning travel. Vacations are expensive, so it makes sense that we want to use our time to the fullest.

I am hoping my approach will give me a greater sense of presence and the flexibility to explore the city at a slower pace and experience some of its everyday life.

Ideally, I want to reposition my mindset, cut the invisible string connecting checklists to productivity, and learn to slow down without feeling guilty for squandering my days.

I am not arriving without a plan. I have researched, prepared, and created a foundation for the trip.

The challenge is leaving enough room for Barcelona to become something I could not have planned in advance.